A Question for Sunny Bindra.

When pride does not come before a fall.

 

I have a question for Sunny Bindra: Is the reason the public service is bad at service delivery that most public servants do not take pride in their jobs? I do not intend to cause offence; many public servants take pride in what they do and very often strive to surpass their best every day. But, Mr Bindra, do you think that bad service delivery and a lack of pride in your work are connected? Because I do.

It may not come out clearly on this blog, but I take great pride in my work. I have done everything I can to expand my knowledge and skills so that my work can improve, even if the improvement is incremental at best. Whatever little edge I can get so that I can do my work better I shall strive to find. Maybe it is that mine is a specialised area of the law and that my colleagues in this field are few and far between because one of the traits we share is a constant yearning to learn more, to find out more, to know more. It is that which makes us the best at what we do.

Another trait of someone who takes pride in his work is that he is unafraid to collaborate with others. In my department we must collaborate or our output will be laughingly shoddy. Even my boss who has done this for nigh on thirty years has to let someone else read over what she has done; it is the only way that what we can produce remains the best work product, dare I say, of the whole ministry. It is sometimes humbling to have one of your colleagues point out what should have been an obvious error. Ours, I believe, is the best quality assurance system in government because for the most part we check our egos at the door and check with our colleagues that we are doing what we are supposed to do in the way it is supposed to be done.

Could it also be that someone who takes pride in his work would want his institution to be the best at what it does? The answer seems to be "yes", doesn't it? I have no doubt that if the remaining five technical departments took the same level of pride in their work, we would be the envy of the entire public service. It is here, I believe, that the rubber does indeed meet the road. As individuals we may take pride in our work and our departments. As a ministry we have no institutional pride. As a ministry we don't care whether we are assessed by the public as performers or non-performers. We don't care if we are reviled or not. We have no pride in our ministry.

I believe that is a malaise that afflicts the greater part of the public service and I don't think it has anything with the size of your paypacket. Some of the best paid lawyers are to be found in the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, but I am yet to meet one who takes pride in his Commission to the same extent that he takes pride in his work. It is why the Commission is always a  day late and a dollar short when it comes to even minor investigations. It is also why parliamentarians have no shame when they are exposed for corrupt acts; they don't have pride in themselves, they don't have pride in their work and they don't have pride in their institutions.

The head of my ministry does not take any pride in his ministry. I know this from the way he treats us. He is a genius, do not get me wrong, and his achievements are legendary. But none of his legendary intelligence or skills are to be seen in the manner his ministry does its work. Collectively we are reviled and loathed in equal measure and distrusted by many. It is not because we are crooks; but if our boss treats us like shit, there is absolutely no way we will make him look good when he needs to look good. I think that is the final ingredient. If a man takes pride in his work, and strives to make it better, and consequently takes pride in his institution and strives to make it better, the least the boss could do is acknowledge that and encourage it. If not, well, here's a list of names we should be familiar with by now: Goldenberg, Anglo-Leasing, Artur Brothers, Langata Primary School Playground, Weston Hotel, #ListOfShame, #147NotJustANumber.